Tanner Milan’s Calgary Stampede experience ended a bit sooner than he would have liked this year – but he’s still got a lot of ride left, as he hits the road for up to 50 more rodeos before the season’s out.
“It just didn’t work out today,” said Milan on Saturday afternoon, after a slip in the steer wrestling finals cost him a chance at the $100,000 prize. “It’s disappointing … but that’s rodeo.
“It’s a humbling sport.”
Milan was a top contender heading into Sunday’s steer wrestling championship after he posted three consecutive winning times (4.2, 3.4 and 4.3 seconds) and collected $16,500 earlier in the week in Pool A.
On the Stampede’s last day, the top riders in each rodeo sport met in the grandstand arena – including Milan, the 31-year-old Canadian steer wrestling champion from Cochrane, who was greeted with thundering cheers from the capacity crowd during his introduction.
Milan was eighth into the chute, and when the buzzer sounded, the bulldogger and his horse, Smoke, came strong out of the gate – with the cowboy leaping from his perch and coming down on the cattle like clockwork.
But the steer “stopped a bit away” from Milan and managed to maintain his balance, slipping his left horn out of the grasp of the former champion and trotting off free – leaving Milan to post a No Time.
“He was a damn fine steer. I wasn’t disappointed to have him,” said Milan, who said he couldn’t blame the bovine for the bust.
Louisiana rider Tyler Waguespack would go on to claim the coveted $100,000 prize after a smooth 3.4-second run in the final four.
Milan’s brother Baillie, who acted as his hazer, took to the arena one more time on Sunday in the final four competition to haze for Alberta’s Cody Cassidy. Cassidy just missed the money by a hair’s breadth, coming in at 4.0 seconds – just 0.2 behind Waguespack.
Between his Stampede qualifying runs and Sunday’s final showdown, Milan had put close to 4,800 km on his truck to compete in other rodeos around North America. He returned to Calgary at 1 a.m. the morning of the finals.
Once Sunday’s showdown finished, Milan was ready to roll again – this time for Idaho, Manitoba, Utah, and nearly everywhere in between to post another 45 to 50 rodeos before the season ends.
Milan said he’s received a ton of support from colleagues and cowboys after his scratch, all of whom know well that a rough run can happen to any rider, at any competition – even the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.
“That’s just the way it goes. I don’t let myself get down. I’ll … be back next year,” he said with a smile.
“It’s what I love to do.”
